At Saint-Léon, in the Gironde, the Roquefeuil family have had to grub up most of their vines and are now concentrating on welcoming visitors.
«It's a pleasure to welcome people here». Château de Castelneau focuses on wine tourism
Loïc de Roquefeuil knows as much about the history of his superb Château de Castelneau as he does about the Entre-deux-Mers region, the vast vineyards of the Gironde between the Dordogne and Garonne rivers. We're in Saint-Léon, a stone's throw from Saint-Émilion, and he's the ninth generation of the family to look after this building, which was erected in the Middle Ages and has been altered many times since.
At the start of 2026, the man who ran a wine bar in Paris before returning in 1987 to look after the château he loves so much has a heavy heart. With the severe crisis affecting the whole of Bordeaux, he has had to grub up 30 hectares of vines. He now has just 6 hectares left, entrusted to a dynamic neighbouring producer. «I had 3 hectares when I arrived. I really believed in it. It's as if all my hard work as a winegrower had been snatched away. Including 60 ares of white Semillon planted in 1888. »I already regret them. He adds, as if trying to put the past behind him: «When my wife Diane, who loves the sun, dreamt of a holiday in the tropics, I told her that we should invest in the vines and that we'd go away later. In fact, I also tore up thirty years» worth of untaken holidays.«
Up to 250,000 bottles sold in the best years - particularly in China, thanks to a son who had settled there - and then a world disappears. The world of the winegrower. With its hard knocks, like the hail that devastated the vineyard in 2013, but also its satisfactions, like producing quality wines. With Diane, whom we met when he first started [...]
